Hikaru Sulu: A Day In The Final Frontier
by silvannight
Summary: A collection of short stories concerning the life of one Star Trek helmsman: Hikaru Sulu. Explore his daily life aboard the Enterprise, and his exciting adventures alongside the well-loved crew of Star Trek: The Original Series.
1. Chapter 1

Hikaru Sulu tended to stay on the down low working on the bridge. However, he took great delight in exploring the Enterprise, and its crew. One evening in particular, Sulu was manning his usual post at the helm along with the navigator, Pavel Chekov. They had just departed from Starbase Eleven for maintenance, and now proceeded on a rather uneventful journey to a Federation colony. The dythium crystal engine hummed methodically, a noise which calmed and relaxed the lieutenant in a way he couldn't understand. The stars twinkled through the display monitor. This was where he felt at home.

"Keep her steady on this course. Good work you two," said Captain Kirk to both Chekov and Sulu as he turned over command for the night shift.

"Vill do, Keptin," answered the beaming Russian.

"Aye sir," said Sulu in turn.

Spock rose from his science read out without prompt and approached the captain's chair. Kirk gave his first officer a look of trust mixed with humor.

"Don't mess her up now, Spock."

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow.

"Captain, I have taken command of the Enterprise during night hours for 6 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours, and 56 minutes. No harm has come to this vessel in that span of time, and it will not likely—"

"Spock. I'm joking."

Sulu and Chekov had to use a large amount of willpower to hold back smiles. They had seen the best exchanges of their captain and first officer, and tonight was no different.

Kirk stood up and held out a hand towards the chair.

"You have the con."

Spock nodded and sat down, his eyes focused even after a long day's work. Sulu made the minute correction in their latitude required for a straight course without much effort.

"Goodnight, gentlemen," said the captain as he left down the turbolift.

The three of them remained on the bridge, with only the chirps of the control panel filling the silence. Sulu had learned that Spock preferred a quiet atmosphere over mindless chatter, and thus kept conversation to a minimum. However, Chekov was a different story.

"Mistier Spock, do you like commanding at night more zan being za science officer?"

Spock answered without averting his eyes.

"My preference is of no importance, Ensign."

Dead silence. Sulu desperately thought about voicing a status report, but that would be meaningless. Chekov tried again.

"I wreely enjoy naawigating zis ship," he glanced at Sulu with pleading eyes, hoping for some back-up.

Sulu looked at him incredulously. Does he have a death wish? Well, something had to be done if they wanted to maintain respect with their superior. And Chekov needed help, fast.

He took a short breath and handled the controls as casually as possible.

"So I heard you discovered an anomaly in the ship's memory core the other day, sir?"

Sulu instantly regretted his comment. Really? The memory core? Was that the best he had?

"Indeed. The mechanics at Starbase Eleven failed to discover a malfunction of the Enterprise's cartography display. I routinely run diagnostics after such repairs to ensure the work was done in its entirety. Evidently, it was not," said Spock.

Chekov and Sulu looked at each other in delightful surprise.

"Well then, it's a good thing we have someone to get the job done right," remarked an astonished Sulu.

"Yis, I agree completevy," added Chekov.

The three Starfleet officers continued to converse on various topics: the best way to navigate a roundabout through a magnetic asteroid field, tips on blending certain recipes to program into the food processor, and so on. Sulu and Spock eventually reached a mutually favored subject.

"My recent experiment with several Vulcan orchids proved quite fascinating. I concluded the plant bloomed more rapidly within an intergalactic environment, yet it possessed a much shorter lifespan than of those bred on Vulcan," said Spock, with an even but light tone.

Sulu turned from his post to face Spock with an eager expression.

"What did you use to fertilize it? Oh, and how much moisture did you expose them to compared to Vulcan's dry atmosphere?"

The two of them exchanged findings on the growth of their botany subjects, while Chekov slowly but surely nodded off into sleep.

"So as you can see, the rate of growth was not affected by the-"

Sulu was cut off by a loud snore.

"Ensign," said Spock.

More snoring.

"Ensign Chekov," repeated Spock, his voice slightly raised.

A few snorts. Sulu closed his eyes in irritance.

"Pavel Andreievich Chekov!" shouted Sulu.

The enisgn's eyes flew open like lightning.

"Vhat?! Vhat is it? Am I in Russia?"

Spock rose out of the captain's chair to his full height and faced Chekov directly.

"No Ensign, you are aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. You were attending to your post as the night watch navigator until you most inconsiderately fell asleep. I warn you that such an action is extremely illogical."

Both helmsman and navigator fell silent.

"I-I'm sorry, Commandir," said Chekov weakly.

The control panel blinked an alert. 0200 hours.

Spock clasped his hands rigidly behind his back.

"Your shift has been completed. Dismissed."

Chekov shuffled out somberly behind Sulu, who handed over control of the helm to the arriving green shirt. The turbolift's pneumatic doors swept shut as Sulu told the computer their destination.

"Deck 18."

The turbolift hummed to life and shuttled downward, with light flashing through the windows periodically. The noise died down as the officers approached their destination. Chekov headed for the door.

"Computer, halt," said Sulu.

Chekov looked at him with dejected eyes.

"Vhat, do you vant to call me out like Mistier Spock?"

"Not at all, Chekov."

"Then can I go?"

Sulu looked at the turbolift's dark floor for a moment.

"Listen, it'll be ok. Spock just runs a tight ship, and we've all messed up at some point or another. Remember that time when Doctor McCoy tripped an alarm and got stuck in a Jeffery's tube?"

Chekov let out a chuckle.

"He vas furious with Scotty for no reason. It vas wreely entertaining."

"I steered clear of the doctor for a few days after that. Boy, was he in some kind of mood."

A comfortable silence passed as they remembered the face of Doctor McCoy shouting across the deck, "Alright, Spock, if this was your fault you'll be sorry! Or was it you, Scott? I'm gonna find out some way or another."

"Computer, resume," said Sulu.

The turbolift doors opened to an empty Deck 18. Chekov headed out to his quarters, with his normal grin restored.

"Goodnight, Sulu," he said with a wave.

"Get some rest, sleepy head," said Sulu, crossing his arms.

"Hey don't-"

The turbolift shut abruptly as Sulu laughed. Chekov would be fine.

"Time to hit the sack," said the tired helmsman to himself. "Deck 15."

As Sulu entered his quarters, he adjusted the samurai sword he had sitting on his dresser, and dimmed the lights. After shoving a load of unfinished reports off his bed, he flopped down on the soft sheets and exhaled. The porthole on the wall to Sulu's right revealed soft starlight that reflected off the glass containers that held many different flowers and ferns. The stars became dimmer and dimmer as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

~~ _End_ ~~

©2016 silvannight


	2. Chapter 2: Part 1

Short Story #1:

The decks of the Enterprise were flooded with busy crew men and women, all trying to get to their station simultaneously. Sulu elbowed his way around two gruff security guards, who barely budged to let him aside.

"Well ok then," muttered Sulu to himself.

Just as he turned around to continue walking towards the bridge, he was met with scalding hot coffee all over his front.

"Ouch! What on-"

A brunette woman held an empty tray with coffee spilled over the top.

"I-I'm so sorry, Lieutenant! I didn't mean to, I, oh are you ok?"

Sulu grimaced at the burning sensation down his thighs, but then quickly forced a smile.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it; I'll just throw on a new uniform."

"Are you sure?" asked the blue eyed crew woman.

"Of course. It was just an accident."

He went to leave for his quarters. No sense in being late if he could avoid it.

"W-wait," the worried ensign lightly touched him by the shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Lieutenant Sulu. And yours?"

"Ensign Pollack. I'm two years out of the Academy."

Wow. A newbie got assigned to the Enterprise?

"That's pretty remarkable for someone so young," said Sulu. "See you around."

The ensign grinned as they parted ways. As Sulu briskly edged himself away from the curious glances of his fellow associates, he saw Chief Engineer Scott come out of the turbolift.

"Why hello there, laddie!"

Sulu's eyes widened. This was more embarrassing than the time he had to haul a drunk Chekov back from a bar fight.

"Ah hello, sir," Sulu replied weakly as he turned to leave. Where was another transportation lift?

The Scotsman looked at Sulu skeptically at first, then with gradual understanding.

"Tell you what, I think I have something to do," said Scotty.

"Thank you sir," said Sulu hurriedly.

The Asian helmsman wasted no time in high tailing it out of the situation. Scotty shook his head.

"Poor chap. Looks like he had a rough start," he said to himself.

Sulu tossed his soiled, light green uniform into his cleaning processor and slipped on a fresh one he had ironed last night. Chekov called him old fashioned but his mother back in Japan taught him how to do his ironing. She said it made him a "gentleman." Sulu adjusted it comfortably and took a deep breath. The air smelled of exotic plants, some more dangerous than others, but nonetheless he enjoyed the result of full blossomed plants after a large amount of hard work.

He exhaled. "I'm tired before the day begins," said Sulu, exhausted.

The unfurling colors of abstract art hanging on the walls bid Sulu good bye as he left to face another busy day. The helmsman's automatic sliding doors flew open as he walked swiftly to bridge, all cleaned up and sporting combed black hair. Although he was shorter than most, he made up for it with a fast walking gait. He caught wind of several conversations.

"And did you see her? She was so gorgeous last night,"

Another occurred between engineers.

"So you can see, the warp core reactor can be switched offline,"

"But have you tried taking apart the quantum plasma configuration? It's so delicate to work with but it's exciting."

Sulu nearly made it to a transporter before the ship's sirens blared their voluminous alarm. The captain's voice rang out over the ship wide channel.

"Red Alert! There is an unexpected warp core breach in progress. Man your stations."

A crazed red shirt sped down the hall at a surprising rate.

"Oi! Sulu. Come here mate I need extra hands down under."

"Scotty?" asked a shocked Sulu.

The Scotsman pulled him by the arm.

"No time laddie, this old girl is in a lotta danger right now, and we need to get her right again."

The two burst into a run as they made their way down titanium ladders connecting to the lower decks. Sulu caught a brief glimpse of a sign reading, "Main Engineering" before finding himself in a world of pandemonium. Several fallen officers lay strewn across the floor, embedded with shrapnel, the atmosphere filled with pressurized exhaust escaping its safe containment, and panic gripped the hearts of those left to manage the stressful situation.

Sulu had no idea where to go, or what had happened. The flashing red lights and shrieking alarms did little to help him process what to do. Fortunately, the booming voice of Scotty cut through the chaos,

"All extraneous personnel evacuate, we are about to shut the containment doors!"

Sulu didn't need to be told twice. He went straight for the open air arch that led to the rest of the ship, but was stopped by the desperate cries of two other crew members.

"Please, help us!"

Sulu whipped around to see a soot covered woman, who haphazardly slung an unconscious engineer over her shoulder. The woman's eyes were piercing, expressing fear mixed with the will to survive.

"Please, he is severely hurt," choked the crew woman.

Sulu snapped out of his shock and placed himself underneath the limp body of the engineer and began hobbling with them toward the exit.

"It's too far! We can't all make it," shouted Sulu through the din of the ever present containment alarms. As the emergency barrier continued to descend ever closer to its destination, Sulu had an idea.

Without so much as a second thought, he wrenched himself off of the two injured officers and thrust them through the last glimmer of white light shining underneath the falling door. It shut with grating crash that made Sulu throw his hands up in self-defense, followed by lowering them in the realization that he might not make it out alive.

 _~~To Be Continued~~_


End file.
